Routine Disregard Of Required Intercept Procedures Covered Up
By CIA
A report from the Central
Intelligence Agency's Inspector-General reveals the Agency
obstructed the investigation into its role in shooting down a
missionary plane in Peru in 2001.
The report described the CIA-backed anti-drug-smuggling effort
in Peru as poorly run... with Peruvian air force jets often
disregarding standard intercept procedures in a frenzy to shoot
down suspect aircraft.
Criticizing the CIA for "needless" deaths, US Representative
Pete Hoekstra of the House of Representatives Intelligence
Committee brought unclassified portions of the report to public
light on Thursday. "This issue goes to the heart of the American
people's ability to trust the CIA," Hoekstra said. "Americans
deserve to know that agencies given the power to operate on their
behalf aren't abusing that power or their trust."
The 2001 incident involved a small plane carrying an American
missionary family, Jim and Veronica Bowers and their two children,
shot down on April 20 by a Peruvian jet after being tracked by a
CIA surveillance plane. Crash-landing in the Amazon River, Veronica
Bowers and her infant daughter Charity were killed, and pilot Kevin
Donaldson was seriously injured.
After the incident, the CIA attempted to portray it as a
one-time mistake in an otherwise well-run program, Reuters said.
However, the report said, "In fact this was not the case. The
routine disregard of the required intercept procedures ... led to
the rapid shooting down of target aircraft without adequate
safeguards to protect against the loss of innocent life."
Alleging that following the proper identification procedures
could have given suspect aircraft time to escape, Peruvians and
Americans involved in the program told investigators it was
sometimes simply easier to shoot down the aircraft than to force it
down. "The result was that in many cases, suspect aircraft were
shot down within two to three minutes of being sighted by the
Peruvian fighter -- without being properly identified, without
being given the required warnings to land," the report said.
"Between 1995 and 2001, the agency incorrectly reported that the
program complied with the laws and policies governing it," the
report said, adding that in its own internal investigation the CIA
found "sustained and significant" violations of procedure, but had
obstructed access by Congress, the National Security Council and
the Justice Department to its findings.
CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano said although CIA Director Michael
Hayden had not yet taken action on the Inspector-General's
recommendations, the "CIA takes very seriously questions of
responsibility and accountability."